(Zaman Al Wasl)- A Facebook 'post' by Syrian activist Fidaa al-Zaatri was virally surfaced on Jordan's social media that celebrated the reopening the strategic Nassib border crossing where Jordanians said everything is very cheap in comparison to their currency.
Al-Zaatri said "perhaps a mass grave is under the soil that produced the cheap potato you are buying."
By reopening a key crossing with Jordan last week, the Syrian regime is inching toward a return to trade with the wider region as it looks to boost its war-ravaged economy, AFP reported. The regime took back control of the Nassib border post in July from rebels as part of a military offensive that reclaimed swathes of the south of the country.
Many Jordanians wrote on social media about the cheap prices of goods in Syria despite the 8-year-old war. The price of one sheep is 25 JOD ($35), 4 kg of Apples equals about 2 JOD ($2,8), they said. Such celebration pushed al-Zaatari to write a pationate letter to whom mocking Syria’s tragic situation, reminding them with most remarkable events and tragedies occurred during the years of war, saying we don't have to forget our humanity.
A Jordanian travel agency recently posted on Facebook that it was organizing daily trips to the Syrian capital by “safe and air-conditioned” bus from Monday.
“Who among us doesn’t miss the good old days in Syria?” it said.
Syria’s international trade has plummeted during the 7-year-old war, and its foreign reserves have been almost depleted.
The reopening of Nassib on Oct. 15, after a three-year hiatus, is a political victory for the Damascus regime, Sam Heller of the International Crisis Group said.
It is “a step toward reintegrating with Syria’s surroundings economically and recapturing the country’s traditional role as a conduit for regional trade,” he added.
The Nassib crossing reopens a direct land route between Syria and Jordan, but also a passage via its southern neighbor to Iraq to the east, and the Gulf to the south.
“For the Syrian government, reopening Nassib is a step toward normalization with Jordan and the broader region, and a blow to U.S.-led attempts to isolate Damascus,” Heller said.
International pressure and numerous rounds of peace talks have failed to stem the fighting in Syria, and seven years in the regime has gained the military upper hand in the conflict.
Syria faces a mammoth task to revive its battered economy.
The country’s exports plummeted by more than 90 percent in the first four years of the conflict alone, from $7.9 billion to $631 million, according to a World Bank report last year.
The Syria Report, an economic weekly, said Nassib’s reopening would reconnect Syria with an “important market” in the Gulf.
But, it warned, “it is unlikely Syrian exports will recover anywhere close to the 2011 levels in the short and medium terms because the country’s production capacity has been largely destroyed.”
For now, at least, Nassib’s reopening is good news for Syrian tradesmen forced into costlier, lengthier maritime shipping since 2015.
Before Syria’s war broke out in 2011, neighboring Iraq was the first destination of Syria’s non-oil exports.
The parliamentarian also hoped the revived trade route on Syria’s southern border would swell state coffers with much-needed dollars.
Before the conflict, the Nassib crossing raked in $2 million in customs fees, Sharaf said.
Last month, Syria’s Prime Minister Imad Khamis said fees at Nassib for a 4-ton truck had been increased from $10 to $62.
Syria’s foreign reserves have been almost depleted due to the drop in oil exports, loss of tourism revenues and sanctions, the World Bank says.
And the local currency has lost around 90 percent of its value since the start of the war.
Despite recent victories, Damascus still controls only half of the total of 19 crossings along Syria’s lengthy borders with Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.
Damascus and Baghdad have said the Albukamal crossing with Iraq in eastern Syria will open soon, but did not give a specific date.
Beyond trade, there is even hope the Nassib crossing reopening might bring some tourists back to Syria.
Zaman Al Wasl
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